Thomas Bailey Aldrich (November 11, 1836 – March 19, 1907) was an American poet, novelist, travel writer and editor. Thomas Bailey Aldrich was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on November 11, 1836.[1] When Aldrich was a child, his father moved to New Orleans. After 10 years, Aldrich was sent back to Portsmouth to prepare for college. This period of his life is partly described in his semi-autobiographical novel The Story of a Bad Boy (1870), in which "Tom Bailey" is the juvenile hero. Critics have said that this novel contains the first realistic depiction of childhood in American fiction and prepared the ground for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

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It was close upon eleven o'clock when I stepped out of the rear vestibule of the Boston Theatre, and, passing through the narrow court that leads to West Street, struck across the Common diagonally. Indeed, as I set foot on the Tremont Street mall, I heard the Old South drowsily sounding the hour.

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